Trump celebrates election win with first stops on "Thank You Tour"

ajc.com

Credit: Jamie Dupree

Credit: Jamie Dupree

Bringing back echoes of the 2016 race for the White House, President-Elect Donald Trump used a campaign-style rally in Cincinnati to appeal for unity in the United States, vowing again to follow through on his campaign pledge for change, and to put the interests of America first during a Trump Administration.

"Now is not the time to downsize our dreams, but to set our sights higher than ever before for our country," the President-Elect said.

"Now is the time to push for real, profound change," Mr. Trump added.

"What happened today in Indiana, we're going to do that all over the country," Mr. Trump said to cheers, referring to his appearance earlier in the day to celebrate an agreement to preserve some jobs with the air conditioner giant Carrier.

"Today we made history," the President-Elect said. "Now the real work begins."

Mr. Trump rattled off a series of campaign pledges, drawing applause with a familiar call.

"By the way, we are repealing and replacing Obamacare," Mr. Trump

There were some familiar, campaign-style outbursts from the crowd as well, even before Mr. Trump took the stage.

The President-Elect also slipped in a few of his trademark jabs at the news media, as the crowd booed lustily at the mention of the "extremely dishonest press," whom he called "very dishonest people."

"How about when a major anchor - who hosted a debate - started crying, when she realized we won," Trump said as the crowd went wild.

"I love this stuff - should I just go on with this just a little bit longer?" Trump said of his jabs at the news media, as he mocked the way the television networks handled his victory late on election night.

The President-Elect also made a bit of news, by announcing his pick for Defense Secretary, saying he would announce it officially on Monday.

For the next President, there was one way to sum it all up.

"The bottom line is, we won - we won - we won big."